Memories
by Betsy
Summary: Book One of the Star and Sun Quartet Kari begins to have strange dreams, and TK is the only one she confides in. However, they soon find that they aren't dreams, but rather memories of the Digiworld's forgotten past--a past they must now change.
1. Prologue: Memory's Sleep

AN: Don't know what I mean by "Star and Sun Quartet?" Read [ this][1] for more information. Or, if the link doesn't work, the AN ought to be somewhere in the forum.  
  


Memories Prologue: Memory's Sleep  
  


A group of eight children, five boys and three girls, were having a party to celebrate a great victory.  


  
_A group of four children, two of each gender, celebrated a great victory. But it was tinged with bitterness._  
  
But their celebration had a bittersweet tone to it. They had had to leave behind their digital companions to return home.   
  
_They had had to leave behind one of their number in the digital world. And the reason for that was even sadder. He was to guard it, without even the help of a digpartner, until one unknown thing happened. All they knew, all that they ever would know in all probability, was that it involved the departure of another two._  
  
Still, the two youngest knew somehow that this separation might not be permanent. At the parting, they had heard, echoing through time, the cries of others parting in the same fashion. And they heard too echoes of a reunion... but for two pairs, no more.  
_  
Still, the two who had to leave were perhaps the happiest there. Although their task was still a mystery—they knew only that it was dangerous in a way, and that this danger might extend to death—they still had a purpose. The others only could look back nostalgically and remember the great things they had done. Hope and Light still had reason to continue the fight. Besides, with their digipartners dead none wanted to live any longer. Eternal loneliness... and Friendship was not yet a trait guarded. Only Wisdom, Hope, Light, Honor, and Compassion had Guardians._  
  
Those young two sat together quietly, as the only ones who realized this: that the events of the past months would all too soon be wiped from people's minds. Many would go on in their daily lives, and purposely forget that danger had all-too-recently racked both worlds. Though youngest, they had a grasp of human nature far beyond their seven years. They knew that everyone would block the memories of entrapment in the convention center as too unpleasant. And few had minds open enough to even accept in the first place the drama, the final fight that had erupted above the heads of watchers in the realworld. All had watched, unable to look away, but how many understood the cosmic meaningof that battle? And how many would remember it, not just with a fading logicalsequence of events but with a clear grasp of the gut terror of that fight?  
_  
The world would forget those five—now four—soon to be two—young heroes in time. The Lightkeepers who had given them their task had assured them of that. None of the digidestined wanted the fame they surely wouldaccrue; a spotlight that shines brightly shines with uncomfortable heat.It was easier to be forgotten, to even forget what had happened themselves.Easier to forget the pain of their fights, easier to forget the joys of friendshipthat had been torn from them. Easier not to explain to greiving parents thatGennai, Takeru, and Hikari would not be coming back. Easiest to pretend thatall this had never happened, that there were never five children pulled outof oneworld to save two. Easiest to pretend that instead there had beenthree lesschildren born, and that the remaining were all perfectly normalin their way.Easy... but easy was not the path of a digidestined. In givingup their past,the last two gave up a bit of who they were._  
  
The two looked back at the others, who were still celebrating. Almost as if they hadalready forgotten.  
"But we never will, right?" the boy spoke suddenly.  
"We never will." echoed the girl more firmly, understanding his unvoiced meaning.  
  
_ The two who were leaving took out their digivices. They then took off their crests... one pink, one yellow. They placed them on the digivices,and the crests flashed with light. The mirror screens of their digivices reflected this light temporarily, but soon began to glow with a light oftheir own.The light spread to Takeru and Hikari, and for a brief moment—Gennaiwould have been technical and termed it a nanosecond—they illuminatedtheentire park's twilight. Then all three—light, Takeru and Hikari—vanished. Being not quite there, they would be partly immune to the effects of thememory wipe. Instead of their memories dying, they would sleep. Perhaps forever. Perhaps to be awakened someday._

   [1]: http://www.fanfiction.net/sections/anime/index.fic?action=view&RoomID=571&Page=5&Archive=0&Collapse=1&RootID=89303&ThreadID=89303&fanaction=localforum&ficcategoryid=201&fanaction=localforum&ficcategoryid=201



	2. One: Memory's Waking

Memories One: Memory's Waking  
  


Waking. For most people an unplesant task, to be snatched out of a calm sleep. But for some, sleep is not so calm. For some, waking is a relief insead of the most dreaded part of the day.  
  
One girl looked forward to dawn in this most terrible way. It was a tragedy made even more pronounced by the fact that she was in middle school, when most value sleep above all other things. But for Kari, sleep was something to be feared. Not sleep necessarily, but the dreams that always accompanied it. She fell asleep easily enough—almost too easily. For once unconscious she was always immersed in the same dreams. Dreams that were too terrible to forget.  
  
Most people would have forgotten the dreams. Most people forget their dreams immediately upon waking. It's easiest that way; they don't have to deal with the hidden terrors of their subconscious except at night. Kari was neverone to take the easy way. She was still a Digidestined. So she knew the dreams that came every night, and he fear only intensified them.  
  
They say there's truth in any dream that you dream more than once.  
  
So Kari woke, and as usual her sheets were soaked through with fear-sweat. Her mother would once again reprimand her for being too big a girl to wet the bed, no doubt. A routine so familiar that its embarrasing, unpleasant aspects had been dulled by repetition. It was too bad her dreams were not the same way...  
  
She told herself to stop thinking about them. It was bad enough to dreamthem, much less obsess over them and increase their impact. The only logicalthing to do, she reminded herself, was to ignore them as best she could andmake he situation somewhat better. Unfortunately, in the human mind illogicoften overpowers logic. Kari's repeated attempts to concentrate on something else—anything—only focused her further on that night's fears.  
  
Once again she pondered telling someone about them, and once again she decided against it. No doubt it would make her hidden horrors much easier to bear if she shared the burden with someone. The problem was, who? The only people who could possibly understand were other Digidestined. But Tai had givenup his fated heritage. He was now a normal high school freshman. Well, notso normal necessarily as he played varsity soccer. But that was a typicalaberration from the standards. Unusual and abnormal aren't the same thing.  
  
As far as she knew, all the other Digidestined had taken Tai's path, hadforgotten not what had happened four years ago but rather its emotional impact.All Tai—and probably the others—had lost was the feelings, Purefright, anger, indecision... all those were lost to him. Oh, he still rememberedwhat had happened—but you can hardly call an emotionless timeline amemory. All the others, probably, had forgotten similarly. They were alreadybeginning to forget back at their return from the Digiworld. Only Kari—andone other, TK—had noticed that a party was not the right way to celebrate losing the deepest friends they'd ever had, their Digipartners.  
  
Thoughts of TK finally took Kari's mind off on a tangent. Where was he now? He still lived with his mother, Kari thought. But Tai had lost track of Matt so there was really no way to know. Pretty much the only thing Kari was sure of where TK was concerned was that they had never seen each other since that party. The party where they had both noticed the others forgetting and vowed to never do so themselves.  
  
Had TK kept that promise? There was no way to know. More likely not; allthe Digidestined had vowed to never forget their Digipartners when they left. Both Tai and Sora, the only ones she saw regularly, had become so wrapped up in a normal life—school, sports, social events—that therewas no time to remember what they had lost on the trolley back home. Forall she knew, everyone else had and she alone still kept the memories ofthat time.  
  
It was futile to think about such matters anyway. There was so much she needed to do, homework, singing lessons, all the activities of a busy sixth-grader. There was enough to worry about without adding to that stress by still thinking about the Digiworld... but down that path lied forgetting. And if she was the only one she knew had kept the memory alive, it was doubly essentialto never forget.  
  
These thoughts all filled Kari's mind as she went through the familiar rituals of getting ready for school and then walking there. It was a good thing that these actions had become somewhat reflexive; if she had actually had to think about directions then all the thoughts already swirling about in her head would have gotten her lost and tardy. She barely noticed as a car came to an abrupt halt so that it would not kill her. The driver certainly did; he hurled a stream of curses and insults at "you idiot kid." Kari was oblivious.  
  
She continued in this waking, marginally more pleasant dream as school began. She mechanically got out her textbook, pen, notebook and homework and read off answers without really considering their content. She barely noticedwhen a new kid walked in and gave his name as Takeru Takaishi. She didn'tnote the name, at any rate, and gave hers literally without thinking whenher teacher asked everyone to introduce themselves. She didn't mind thishalf-awake daze; it made up for the sleep she lost trying to overcome herfear of the dreams.  
  
At lunch she still moved in this trance. She barely tasted the lunch hermother had packed—another advantage of this inattention. Lately theonly times she had truly been awake were her dreams. A paradox. But doesn'ttruth lie in seeming paradoxes?  
  
She only woke from this mobile sleep when the new kid sat down in front of her and began to speak. Her rise to fuller consciousness was not caused from politeness; it was from surprise that any would speak to Kari Kamiya, that half-crazy girl who never talks back anyway.  
  
"When I walked in the door today, I immediately wondered where I'd seen you before. When you told me your name, I knew. Kari, do you remember me?"  
  
She looked at his face and found it vaugely familiar. The blue eyes she definitely knew from somewhere, but although she'd seen many strange hats—Sora, Tai's girlfriend, wore them all the time—she'd never seen that particular kind. Nor did she understand why this strange boy would wear one, as hishair—what could be seen around the hat's edges, at any rate—wasa nice shade of blond.  
  
"Don't you remember me?" he said, with a different, more annoyed inflection. "You promised..."  
  
"Oh...! TK! I didn't recognize you. I'm sorry." That revelation jolted her into full awareness.   
  
"Why not? You knew my name..."  
  
"I wasn't really paying attention when you walked in."  
  
"Thinking?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"About what?" He waited for a while and got no response. After it becameclear that Kari would not talk back, he asked further. "Gatomon, maybe?"  
  
"Sort of..." Kari said softly.  
  
TK mentally berated himself for reopening an emotional wound that he wassure was barely scabbed over; _Kari_ wouldn't forget, he was certain.Matt might have, but he had known that Kari wouldn't forget. Quite possiblyshe couldn't. Although she had been in the Digiworld for the shortest time,she had experienced so much more than anyone there that it should be impossible for her to forget.  
  
"I'm sorry. You probably don't want to talk about it."  
  
"No... it's okay. I guess that it's better if I do."  
  
"If you don't want to..."  
  
"I do," she interrupted rather vehemently. "You don't know what's been happening to me lately, TK. I need to tell someone... but no one else could ever understand. This is something that only a Digidestined could comprehend."  
  
"Then what about Tai?"  
  
Her answer was another question. "Is Matt still a true Digidestined?" That one sentence's question highlighted the situation better than ten sentences' answer could have. Matt wasn't.  
  
She continued. "A month or so ago, I began having this dream. Just the same dream, over and over. I'm standing on a plain in the Digiworld, and something—no Digimon I know, but vaugely like Myotismon—walks towards me. And then it attacks. Sometimes Gatomon's there, sometimes Salamon, occaisionally Nyarumon or Angewomon. Sometimes I'm alone. But whenever she's there, she always leaps in front of the attack and it passes straight through her heart. If thathappens I can feel the dissolving data hit my body... But if she's there,the attack goes right through as if she weren't there. If she's not, of course,there's no reason for it to slow... And just before it hits my body, thescene melts and fades away. I see two children, my age or younger, disappearin a great flash of light. And when the blindness from the flash fades away,sometimes I see someting else. But more often than not, it just starts overon that plain."  
  
"I've been having a dream, too. I see you on that plain, calling for help... Then I see those same children disappear. That's why I transferred. I made up a reason that Mom and the school officials would listen to, but the real reason is that I wanted to see if you did need help."  
  
"Trust me, I do. I haven't been able to think of anything but this lately. Almost as if a part of me were waking from a long sleep..."  
  


Don't you just hate the phrase**  
TO BE CONTINUED...  
**  



	3. Two: Memory's Growing

Memories Two: Memory's Growing  


  


The next day at school TK and Kari sat together, apartfrom all others, at lunch. Once more, they talked of the things which theyhadin common. In the years since they had last seen each other, these commonties had grown fewer. Kari, much to her brother's dismay, had little interestin sports. She had opted for music, and although she'd never made much headway with piano her voice teacher considered her one of his better pupils. TKhad also followed a path different from his brother's, but in his case thatmeant choosing sports over music instead of the other way 'round. He hadgrown quite a bit from the shrimp of Digiworld days, and his newfound heightwas an advantage in basketball.  
  
No matter how he and Kari had changed, however, they still shared one unbreakable tie. They were Digidestined. More specifically, they were Digidestined of Faith, and because of that they could not take the easy path the others had and forget. Why not? They needed to remember. The world needed them to remember, and remain true Digidestined.  
  
They would always share that common bond—their memories. And now they shared another one, perhaps related—their dreams.  
  
"I had a new dream last night, TK."  
  
"Oh?"  
  
"Well, not really. It was more like a prelude to my usual dream."  
  
"Close enough. Tell me about it."  
  
"I'm flying above the Digiworld. Well, Angewomon is, but she's holding my hand so it comes to the same net effect. Most of it's healthy, green, vibrant—but then we notice a place that's... not. It's a... well... a sickly-lookingplace. I don't know any better way to describe it. We swoop down and... TK,it'sthe place where I die. Then my usual dream begins. Only this time, youcomewith Angemon to help fight... but it's too late, you arrive just beforetheattack hits."  
  
"Can it be that by coming to help I've only made things worse?" TK said,half to himself, after several second's uncomfortable pause.  
  
"No. Even if your arrival was what... extended... my dream, you've stilldone much more good than harm. Do you have any idea how wonderful it feelsto be able to talk this over with someone? I need you, TK. You're my lifelineto sanity."  
  
A slightly more uncomfortable pause followed that statement. It was broken by the bell's loud ring.  
  
"I guess we'd better get to class now?" suggested TK, a bit lamely.  
  
"I guess."  
  


* * *

That night Kari's dream started even earlier. She was talking with... someone... (Gennai, her mind told her, though he looked nothing like the Gennai she knew)  
  
"...this final evil. Then you're done. Permanently, in all likelihood."  
  
"Where...?"  
  
"Lucefremon ought to be pretty easy to find. An evil as deep as his poisons the entire area around him. Just flying over it, the very land should look unhealthy. Now go, Hikari. You're the only one left."  
  
"Takeru..."  
  
"Is almost certainly dead, and even if he's not it's very unlikely that he'll get out in time. HIkari, you and Angewomon might not be enough, but you'll have to be."  
  
After that, Gatomon digivolved. Kari took her hand and they flew...  
  
Over that sickly-looking patch of the Digiworld. They of course swooped down to investigate... and once more Kari woke in a fear-sweat just before the energy-bolt hit.  
  


* * *

The next night...  
  
Fleeing from... something... Lucefremon? (if that was its name) on the back of a Pegasus-like Digimon... Fledgemon, the name came to her. There werethree others—four, counting Gatomon—one of them was the strangeGennai, and the others were a boy and girl she faintly recognized from thenight before. The girl... Natsuko?... urged Fledgemon on, faster and faster.A flight of Saberdramon, flame-blackbird Digimon—viri—rose infront of them. To stop them, perhaps, or maybe just stall them enough forLucefremon to catch up. The deadly race they were running was close enoughthat any slowdown could... would... literally be fatal...  
  
"Legendswing!" cried out Fledgemon, and a shower of icy wing-feathers shot towards the center of the Saberdramon formation. Being only Champions and no match for an Ultimate like Fledgemon, they scattered. Fledgemon darted through the now-vacant center of the formation. Claws and sharp teeth slashed at them but they made it through relatively safely.  
  
Suddenly they hit a sort of stiffening in the air, one that would not let them pass. Gennai whispered a small word under his breath, and they werethrough the digital barrier. He whispered again, and at its maker's commandit re-formed. Now they were in a small clearing, a place of rest and safety.More safety, at any rate, than outside the barrier which Lucefremon couldnot penetrate.  
  
Fledgemon softly glided down, and everyone quickly dismounted. Then, exhausted, she collapsed. But instead of commencing the glowing contraction that marked a reverse-digivolve, she just lay there. A cold, gentle breeze swept through the clearing, and as it brushed by Fledgemon her outline blurred and faded. Natsuko, crying quietly, knelt by her side, but her Crest of Compassion's indigo glow could not heal her partner. The breeze wafted away the sparkling bits and bytes towards Primary Village. There Fledgemon could get the complete rest she needed and had earned in her desparate flight.  
  
They stayed in that clearing for a while. Partly to rest, but mostly to mourn. Equumon—Fledgemon—was not the only deleted Digipartner. Masaharu's Fawnmon and Gennai's Morphomon had both died fightingLucefremon. Takeru and Patamon—well, they say not to count someonedead until you've seen the body, so there was still a faint glimmering ofhope there. Fitting, that.  
  
Then one day, (day measured by dream-time, of course), Gennai pulled Hikari over to talk.  
  
"Lucefremon's still out there, Hikari. We need you to go and defeat thisfinal evil. Then you're done. Permanently, in all likelihood..."  
  


* * *

"And each night the dream's been growing, TK. Always by tacking new things on to the beginning. It's like this other Hikari lived once, and now I'm reliving all her memories up until death... You know how I said it was almost as if some part of me, long-forgotten,were waking? Well, what if I am Hikari?"  
  


that favorite tool of sadists, a cliffhanger  
**TO BE CONTINUED...**   



	4. Three: Memory's Calling

Memories Three: Memory's Calling  
  


After a while the dreams stablized. As far as Kari could tell, (which after all was mostly guesswork), this final dream began at the beginning of the... other group's... fight with Lucefremon. Whoever he was. Kari had the impression that the other group had been in the Digiworld for a while before fighting Lucefremon, but that was a bit hazy. Vivid, realistic dreams they might be, but they were dreams still. Dreams have never been the most accurate wayof gathering information.  
  
So Kari knew very little about the dream-world. And TK knew still less. He only knew those bits of information that Kari chose to tell him, and it was obvious that she wasn't telling him everything. There were some areas she was rather pointedly vauge on. The most noticeable of these silences wason the issue of TK's counterpart in the other group.  
  
"So what happened to the other Takeru? After a certain point in your narratives, he just... disappears."  
  
Kari paused for a moment, attempting to think of a suitable, evasive reply. "That's basically what happened," she responded, eyes averted.  
  
"I'd like a bit more detail here..."  
  
"I can't give any."  
  
"Kari, I've faced the same monsters you have and... well, a lot of the time I was terrified, but I took it. Why do you think I can't handle... whatever this is?"  
  
"I can hardly give you information I don't have!" Kari snapped back, a bit too quickly. The tone of her response only reinforced TK's perception that she was hiding something, but he dropped the subject. It was obviously one Kari was touchy about, and at any rate the bell was ringing to call themto PE class. 

* * *

Two lines of sixth-graders, freshly changed into their PE uniforms, swarmed through the gym's double doors. Upon entry, everyone either cheered or groaned. The rope climb tends to inspire strong feelings: feelings of joy and fun for those who could and feelings of annoyance and frustration for those who hadn't quite mastered that particular skill. Two of those entering the gym, however, were groaning not becausethey couldn'tdo the rope climb—they could, and very well, too—butbecause itbrought up bad memories.  
  
TK and Kari attempted to unobtrusively slip to the back of the line, so as to stave off or potentially avoid the climb. But oddly enough the line moved quickly that day; those who could climb the rope did so, and those who could not gave up early. Soon there were only TK and Kari left standing at theline's end. TK resolutely stepped forward and did his best to conquer theold memory rising within him. He did a reasonable job of that, and whilehe climbed in fits and starts he managed to ascend the rope's whole length.Then it wasKari'sturn.  
  
Even before she began to climb it was clear that it would not go well. As she stepped up to the rope she was visibly trembling and sweating profusely. She gripped the rope hard enough that her hands turned as white as her petrified face. She climbed slowly and with much effort. It was not a feeble forcelike gravity that she strained against on this climb; it was the vastly greater pull of one memory. A memory old enough that it should have been long forgotten, but one terrifying enough that her impression of it was as vivid as the feel of the rope biting into her fingers.  
  
_"TK, take Kari and go." And go they did, fleeing from Piedmon so thatSora's sacrifice would not be in vain, so that at least two Digidestined mightsurvive this battle. They ran out onto that balcony, and a rope rosefrom abasket.They began to climb that rope upward. Their fears of heightsand ofwhat mightawait them at the top of the rope paled in comparison tothe dangerthey wererunning from. They would rather face an unknown dangerthan the known,horrifyingone they were leaving.  
  
But then Piedmon joined them on the rope, and cut it free of whatever magical support caused it to remain aloft. And they fell. Fell through the permanent twilight of Spiral Mountain's peak. And for the first time in that entire ordeal, Kari was truly afraid. Previously TK had been there. He'd been scared too, and tried to not show it for her sake. And that consideration had lessened Kari's fear. But now TK wasn't there.  
  
TK wasn't there... _ Her terror-stricken mind flashed to another timewhen he wasn't there to offer what comfort he could. The battle—morelike an execution, for all the fight she'd put up—with Lucefremon.He didn't arrive in time. And that was why she'd lost.  
  
From that point her mind spiraled into remembering all the other dreams.All the horrors that the other Hikari had faced. And those were great enough, in both quantity and quality, that no person could possibly face them all at once. Kari fainted, and slid limply down the short length of rope that she had managed to ascend. And in this drop, she did not fall only from air to ground. She also fell from terrible memories to even more horrifying dreams.  
  
TK ran forward as soon as she began to fall, but was not quick enough. She hit the floor and lay there, in an uncomfortable enough position to assure that she was most decidedly unconscious. The gym teacher, noticing his concern, assigned him to take her to the health room. He tapped her several timesto wake her up, but these attempts had no effect. So he, with a slightlyrueful expression on his face, picked up Kari and carried her through theirschool's hallways. 

* * *

At the end of the school day, TK ran to the health room to find out what happened to Kari. To his great surprise, she was still in there.  
  
"Apparently that... ordeal... exhausted me enough that I shouldn't move," she explained as TK moved to sit in the chair closest to her bed. "I'll have to stay in the health room for the next few days. All my teachers are overjoyed; they like being able to squeeze homework out of me even though I'm sick."  
  
"Pleasant dreams?" quipped TK. He instantly regretted it; for Kari's face froze into a terror-mask. "Kari?" he questioned, trying to regain her attention.  
  
"TK... I saw the whole dream."  
  
He frowned. It hadn't ever made her like this...  
  
"I don't think you understand. I saw the entire history of the first Digidestined. Not just their battles with Lucefremon."  
  
"So you're certain these are the first Digidestined?"  
  
"They're another group, at any rate, and considering that Gennai's one of them the timeline doesn't really fit unless they're the first."  
  
"Point. Well, that means we don't have to worry. That turned out all right; they defeated all their enemies and the Digiworld was safe until Apocalymon emerged from the Wall of Fire."  
  
"Then why am I having these dreams?" she said almost savagely. "If that turned out all right then there's no reason for me to have them."  
  
"I don't know."  
  
"Do you want to know my theory?" Kari whispered urgently. "I think that they _lost_. We know that Morphomon, Equumon, and Fawnmon all died, right? And so did Gatomon. Patamon was the only one left. Lucefremon's energy-bolt went through Angewomon like she wasn't even there. If he's that powerful, then Patamon, whichever form, wouldn't stand a chance. And that's why I'm having these dreams. They lost, and there's something I need to do to change that."  
  
"But how? What's happened has happened; what's done is done. The future can't change the past."  
  
"But it can try. When I fall asleep tonight, I won't wake up until I've done whatever it is I need to do. I'll remain lost in that dream until it isn't a nightmare anymore."  
  
"Kari, don't. What you're talking about might not even be possible. Whatif you never wake?"  
  
"That's a risk I'll have to run, and I'll gladly take it. Right now all the worlds' present is based on a past that never happened. That's an unstable situation. And what happens when time collapses?"  
  
"No. Kari, listen. You're one of only two Digidestined left. The worlds can't afford to have you go."  
  
"They can't afford to have me stay, either."  
  
"Kari. What will happen if you die? The worlds need you."  
  
"They need me to do this." she snapped back.  
  
"Kari, once you said that the task of remembering weighed down on you soheavily you'd crack under the strain if it weren't for me. What makes youthink I'm any stronger than you are? Kari, it's not just the worlds thatneed you." He paused for a second, his eyes tearing up. "I need you," hesaid, softer than before.  
  
That remark nearly convinced Kari to turn back. But then she hardened. "Then I'll try my butt off to come back. No guarantees, though." She slumped slightly. It was apparent that the fight was tiring her.  
  
TK thought for a few moments, searching for a way that he could stop her. But his search proved fruitless. He sighed. There was one thing he coulddo. He twisted his face into a resolute mask, and said, "I can't stop you,Kari, much as I'd like to. I think that you'll never come back; this is toobig a task to face alone.  
  
"So don't face it alone. Kari, if you feel you have to do this, at leastlet me help."  
  
"How?"  
  
TK grasped Kari's hand and concentrated. He tried to remember the specifics and details of that frantic rope climb four years ago. He slipped almostinto a trance, reliving that one memory.  
  
_Falling for a time that seemed endless, to the ground of Spiral Mountain's peak. Then pulling out Matt's doll, turning as always to his older brother for help. And receiving help of a sort. He seemed to hear his brother's voice calling from beyond whatever gulf existed between the living and the dolls. He took hope in his brother's words. And his crest glowed..._  
  
And his crest glowed out from his chest like it had in the final battle with Apocalymon. Its yellow radiance spread to envelope his entire body. Kari's crest, too, shone pink in a sympathetic vibration of sorts. The glowing nimbuses surrounding them combined. Then with a silent thunderclap their auras disappeared and they both fell into identical comas.  
  


Prob'ly the worst cliffhanger in this fic  
**TO BE CONTINUED...**  
  



	5. Four: Memory's Learning

Memory's Limit

AN: And the plot moves into high gear... I anticipate two more chapters and an epilogue after this, so we're at the halfway point.(of this one 'teny rate. Three fics to go in the quartet) Congrats for bearing with me this far. Oh—If you can spot where I got the idea of TK and Kari embedded in Hikari and Takeru's consciouses, you get bragging rights, and congratulated in Chapter Five's AN.  
Oh... Many thanks to kale and TK Takaishi for being such faithful reveiwers. It's what keeps me going, guys. And if you're reading this and not reveiwing... and I know there are people doing that... shame on you. See how it says "be a _responsible_ reader and write a reveiw?" Do that. Thanks to author stats, I know three people have this on their faves. None of whom have reveiwed. Shame, shame. That blue box is there for a reason, people.  
  


Memories Four: Memory's Learning  


  
The school nurse listened silently as TK and Kari carried out their cryptic conversation. Although she could make little sense of their frequent references to "dreams," and "memories," and "destiny," what gist she got unsettled her. And when she figured out that their conversation was about, among other things, death, she nearly interrupted. But she found that something—shock,she rationalized—held herspeechless. But it wasn't shock that heldher back.It was destiny—or morespecifically, the barrier that stopsthose who would interfere with it.  
  
Just before TK and Kari began to glow, she broke though destiny's barrier for a brief moment. A small "What—" escaped from her mouth. But then the first rays of light burst from TK's crest, and the nurse was truly shocked into silence. She watched, mouth agape and perfectly still, as Kari's crest began to glow. But when the two Chosen children fainted, her nurse's training took hold. She quickly checked their pulses and breathing, but these indicators betrayed no abnormality. By all signs, they were taking peaceful naps. But the witness of her own eyes held that something was wrong with them; Kari was in a bad enough state that a sudden faint was only to be expected, but TK had been perfectly healthy. Perfectly healthy sixth-graders don't drop into comas.  
  
The nurse checked them once again, much more thoroughly. But the only remotely odd thing she found was in their eye movements. Those showed that the pair had dropped much more quickly into REM sleep, the sleep of dreams, than they should have. It was then that the nurse regretted not following their conversation more closely. She knew that they had said something about dreams, but what she could not remember.  
_________________________________________  
  
Takeru woke with a headache. He'dhad the oddest dream, too... Idly, he wondered if one of the Digiworld's myriadstrange plants had disagreed with his stomach. Last night, the group hadn'teaten anything new, though... He resolved to ask Gennai later if soil conditonsor something like that could have enough influence to cause food poisoning.However,there was a purpose far more urgent in his mind—finding relieffor hisheadache.In the dawn's pinkish light, he noticed Hikari sitting proppedagainst thetree next to the stream. Takeru lazily stood up and walked overto where Hikaristood. She had a light, sweet singing voice... if he askednicely, maybe she'dsing for him, and maybe that would help his headache.  
  
_As Takeru approached the stream, his face was briefly reflected in the water. Deep in his mind, TK noticed with a start that they looked exactly alike. Just as Kari and Hikari could pass for twins—or perhaps even the same person.  
_  
"Headache?" she queried as he approached.  
  
"Yeah," he replied, mildly startled that she'd guessed so easily.  
  
"I have a bit of one too. And I had an odd dream last night, too. About this girl with a phobia for climbing ropes... I think I might be coming down with the flu, or whatever the Digiworld equivalent is. I hope not, though. Lucefremon'll be the hardest challenge we've ever faced, and if I pass a disease around the group that weakens us we might not make it."  
  
Takeru was even more surprised to learn that it had happened to her too.Buthe quickly rationalized it within his "food poisoning" theory. After all,everyone in the group ate the same food, so if there was anything bad initit would affect all of them. And Hikari had always been a bit more suspectibleto diseases and such than the rest of them, so if it had been enough to hurthim she would definitely feel its effect.  
  
"Want me to sing for you?" Hikari continued.  
  
"Yeah. How'd you know I did?"  
  
"Dunno; I guessed. You know that I'm good at that sort of stuff."  
  
He did know that. Hikari had always had this sort of telepathic connection with the world around them, whichever world it happened to be. And oddlyenough, these"guesses"were a lot more frequent and accurate when they concernedhim. It was almostas if they were connected, or similar, or _something_, at some basic level.Of course, that just might be wishful thinking on his part; lately he'd foundhimself feeling... different, happier... wheneverHikari singled him out fromthe rest of the group.  
  
Hikari began to sing, "_Ibara no mori o aruite kita ne,_" (translation: Through a forest of thorns we have come walking) when Takeru interrupted.  
  
"Where'd you learn that song? I don't think I've ever heard it before."  
  
"T'tell you the truth, Takeru, I don't think I have either... I just started singing, and the words came." She shrugged. "It's a pretty song, though,don't youthink?"  


  
So it is possible to influence them _thought TK. _"Ashita wa ii hi ni Naru" is one of Kari's favorite songs. No idea why, though. She's never seen Fushigi Yuugi... it's probably Sora's influence, although Mimi seems more the type to watch that. _TK recalled the lyrics... they were fairly romantic, and pretty sappy romantic at that. (AN: [ lyric translation from "Fire of Suzaku'sWings"][1]. See what I mean by romance sap?)_ Did she have any ulterior motive in choosing _that_ song?_ TK wondered.  
  
Funny that I know the lyrics despite having never heard it before. Did she have any ulterior motive in choosing _that_ song? _puzzled Takeru. Then almost immediately he rejected the idea. _Nah. I couldn't be thatlucky._   
_________________________________________  
  
Takeru, Hikari, and the other firstDigidestined continued their fight against Lucefremon's minons easily...well,easily compared to how hard they anticipated the fight against Lucefremonhimself would be. Then, by Murphy's Law, one thing happened to make theirtask much harder...  
  
The Digiworld's strange stars shone brightly above the five children andtheirDigimon. Theywere sleeping in the same sort of place they usually did—asmall clearing convenient to a stream—and for once they'd forgottentoset a watch. That proved to be a mistake. A dark shape slinked out of thesurrounding trees and seized two Digidestined—one child and his Digipartner.Quietly, he bore them off to his master, to be... forced guests... in Lucefremon's new prison. They would stay there for weeks.  
_________________________________________  
  
Takeru and Patamon woke between twoparallel hedges. A voice boomed above them, one they'd learned to identifyas Lucefremon's.  
  
"I've grown bored of watching you two languish in a dungeon. I toyed with the idea of killing you outright, but that's not nearly entertaining enough for my purposes. So I offer you a bargain. If you can escape from this maze, which is possible, you get freedom. However... it's much morelikely you won't survive the attempt. I've placed the same anti-digivolution barriers around this compound that I did over your cell, so you only have yourself and Patamon to rely on. Not really enough, for some of the things in this maze, but you have a fighting chance. Even Viri have honor."  
  
At that point the "hedges" turned around, revealing dozens of Deramon. Dozens of Deramon that looked all-too-ready to attack.  
  


those who use cliffhangers have no right to complain  
**TO BE CONTINUED...**  
  


   [1]: http://www.onewingedangel.com/suzaku/firewings/songs/lyrics/song40.htm



	6. 

Memory's Wishing

AN: Ahh... after this, just the epilogue... I don't know what to think. I love writing this, but some of the scenes have been hell to do... I can't write action worth a crap. And it'll be nice when I finish... ::shrugs:: I'll see how I feel after the epilogue. No use in worrying before time.  
  
A lot of people have commented about this being a bit confusing... Sorry. That's only partly deliberate... and I don't have a good spot to explain in the fic itself until the epilogue rolls around. Brief help-thing: Takeru and Hikari are 00 digidestined. At the end of 00, they were told to report to Gennai's friends. They disappeared. What they were told will be in the epilogue. It will explain everything that's going on, but I can't say it here because it'll spoil the rest of this fic (what little is left to spoil, 'teny rate). The dreams both TK and Kari have been having are based on 00 before they meddled. That's different from the 00 that actually happened—that's based on the changes TK and Kari made, (or will make, depending on how you look at it,) while in Takeru and Hikari's minds. Hope that helped... although with my luck it probably just confused you more. Maybe if you re-read the prologue it would help... that has a lot of background-ish stuff in it.  
  
I'm a bit surprised that no one figured out where the TK and Kari within their counterparts' minds came from—_A Swiftly Tilting Planet_ by Madeline L'Engle. If you've read it, that might clear up some things too... I took a lot from that, sort of unconsciously, and just the other day I realized, "Hey! 'Memories' is a lot like "Planet!'"  
  
Once again, the lyric translation to "Ashita Wa Ii Hi Ni Naru" is not mine, as I only understand a few random words of Japanese. It was done by those wonderful people at http://www.onewingedangel.com/suzaku. It's a very pretty song; you might want to download it or something.  
  


Memories Five: Memory's Wishing  


  
As the Deramon turned, Takeru looked frantically on the ground for some implement he could use to defend himself. No luck; the dirt floor of the maze-compound was swept hard and clean. Patamon desperately Boom-Bubbled, but there were so many arrayed against the two that his efforts did little.  
  
"Pata! JUST RUN!" Takeru screamed, while following his own advice. Patamon followed him, ear-wings flapping frantically. The Deramon pursued them, surprisingly quickly considering their short stubby legs. Too quickly for running to be the only answer.  
  
They fled to another part of the maze, where the dirt floor gave way to crude stone paving and hedges to catacomb-like tunnels. Hoping to lose their followers, they deliberately chose the twistiest, least logical path they could, randomly taking or not taking the various alternate tunnels they encountered. Soon, the catacombs darkened as they fled further from outside light, and still the bush-encumbered penguins followed. Then light began to once again splash on the dark stone walls. It was no longer the pale white moonlight of the tunnels' entrance, however. It was the warm welcoming gleam of a torch.  
  
Takeru's mind, though panicked, managed to remember that fire was a weapon. He yanked the torch from its holder and brandished it at the Deramon horde. Suddenly, the tables were turned and it was now the Deramon who strove to put as much distance as possible between themselves and their intended victims. Takeru, relived, allowed them to do so and put his mind to a much harder task—reconstructing the path they'd taken and getting back out of the catacombs.  
_____________________________  
  
Hikari curled up fetally, her back against a tree. There had been no sign of Takeru for the past few weeks. This lack was apparently a good sign; according to Gennai, since they'd never seen Takeru's dead body there was a fair chance he'd been kidnapped. If that was a good thing.  
  
_Where are you now? _she sadly wondered. _Some prison cell? Some shallow grave? I want you back, TK—Takeru. Who's TK?  
  
Come back. I... I... oh, admit it to yourself, Ka—Hikari. You've fallen for him._  
  
She untucked her crest from where she kept in under her shirt and stared at it. The starlike symbol faintly shimmered, almost in reflection of the stars above her. Almost in a singsong, she recited, "Starlight, star bright/First star I see tonight/Wish I may, wish I might/ Have the wish I wish this night."  
  
She began to wish on her crest, first thinking out what she wanted._ ...that you escape from Lucefremon, Takeru. That you're alive, and that you'll be free.  
  
_Then she put her wish in words, to make sure that whatever higher power handled these things heard her plea. "I wish... oh, I wish..." and something other than herself seemed to put words in her mouth. Her voice came out slightly differently, not quite as the same person's. "...that TK and I will be together again, someday soon."  
  
Once again, Hikari wondered who that TK person was.  
  
She began to sing once more, that last song she'd sung for Takeru. And this time it was to comfort herself.  
  
_"Ibara no mori o aruite kita ne _ Through a forest of thorns we have come walking_  
Kokoro ga tadori tsuku bara no tame ni _ To where the heart is struggling for the sake of a rose_  
Kenage ni ikiru ai o mamorita mae _ The love that bravely lives must be protected_  
Hakanaki hana tachi no yume ga saku you ni… _ So that the transient flowers' dreams will blossom…_  
'Ashita wa ii hi ni naru' nando mo sasayaku wa _ "Tomorrow will be a good day" I whisper repeatedly_  
Anata ni furi tsumore kyou saigo no oinori _Showering down and piling up on you is today's last prayer  
  
_Takeru... we've gone through so much together. All to protect, to save this world that we don't even belong in. We've tried to save everyone else... what about us? What makes us so special, such a perfect sacrifice for the Digiworld's future? ...oh, stop it, Hikari. Stop being so bitter, so complaining. This is our duty. We're the only ones who can. After all, isn't the highest moral purpose, the most altruistic thing, making the world better for others at the price of yourself? ...but I don't want to be this perfect altruist! Yes, I know it's what makes me me. But sometimes I don't want to be myself. Sometimes I wish I had a good healthy selfish streak... then I could have persuaded the others to look for you at first. Still, hindsight's futile. Sometimes all one can do is pray. So God, if you have any power in this world of data, use it. Bring Takeru back._  
_  
"Kanashimi tachi mo nemuri tsuku yoru _Even all the sadnesses arrive at sleep this night_  
Anata no sugu soba de danro ni naru _Immediately by your side I become a fireplace_  
Kibou no tane ni chikara ataeta mae _To the seeds of hope please give power so that_  
Namida mo itsu no hi ka niji ni naru you ni… _Even tears on some day will become a rainbow…_  
'Ashita wa ii hi ni naru' kokoro wa sou negau _ "Tomorrow will be a good day" my heart wholly desires_  
Anata to iru ima o aishiteru _Now when I am here with you I love it  
_  
So now you're delusional, Hikari? Still, were you with me, Takeru, I _ would_ love it. Aishiteru, Takeru-kun. I wish, with all my altruist's heart... that someday our sadness will sleep forever, that I'll be beside you once more... I pray, with all my love, not just for you but for everyone in this world... that Hope's Guardian will have power to guard the hopes of all for a bright future, that this dank sadness will one day turn to colorful joy... I hope, with all the power of my crest... that tomorrow _will_ be a good day... I wish, I pray, I hope...  
  
"Inochi aru mono subete ni sachi aru you ni…" _May everything that is alive be happy…_  
______________________________  
  
Takeru looked confusedly at the seven near-indentical corridors of this branch in the catacombs. He was relatively sure he'd come from the third on the left... but some force within him was lobbying to go down the one on the far right. Or rather up, as it appeared steep enough that a staircase may have been more apropos than a ramp. A shortcut, perhaps? He had descended in his flight...  
  
_Why not? I can't get any more lost then I already am...  
  
_So he ascended the steep right tunnel, and kept going even when it seemed he'd been walking for hours. After quite a while, it opened out onto a broad balcony that Takeru was dead certain he'd never seen before in his life.  
  
_Okay... this definitely isn't the way I came..._  
  
Still, he walked out to the balcony's edge. And instantly regretted it. He discovered that he was near the top of a Very Tall Tower, almost at the edge of the maze's compound. Not quite at the edge, unfortunately. Otherwise, he'd be home free.  
  
Takeru had never been closer to despair than at that moment. Just barely far enough from freedom... just barely too far. And he knew that if he descended the ramp again he'd only get lost in the tunnels once more...  
  
At that moment, he heard a faint echoing melody. "_Kibou no tane ni chikara ataeta mae/Namida mo itsu no hi ka niji ni naru you ni…" (_To the seeds of hope please give power so that/Even tears on some day will become a rainbow…)  
  
"Hikari?" he whispered wishingly.  
  
"..._were you with me, Takeru, I _would_ love it. Aishiteru, Takeru-kun. I wish, with all my altruist's heart... that someday our sadness will sleep forever, that I'll be beside you once more... I pray, with all my love, not just for you but for everyone in this world... that Hope's Guardian will have power to guard the hopes of all for a bright future, that this dank sadness will one day turn to colorful joy... I hope, with all the power of my crest... that tomorrow _will_ be a good day..."  
  
"_I wish... I pray... I hope..." he said with her.  
  
Then an idea came to him.  
  
"Patamon."  
  
"Yes, Takeru?"  
  
"Fly out there. Just beyond the barrier." Patamon did so. "Now digivolve, and go. Even if I never get out of here, at least then everyone else will be saved."  
  
"Takeru? You want me to leave? I'll stay, Takeru. Even if it means we both die."  
  
"If you go, I'll be the only one dead. If you don't, we'll all die."  
_  
...So don't face it alone. Kari, if you feel you have to do this, at least let me help...  
  
_"Okay, fine. Digivolve, but don't go. Not yet." Patamon complied with this request. "Now hold out your staff."  
  
Takeru sighed within himself. This would be hard... but few easy things are worth doing. He backed up almost to the corridor he'd emerged from. Then he ran back toward's the balcony's edge, in the fastest sprint he'd ever run. As he reached the half-wall at the end, he placed his hands on top of it and vaulted off the balcony.  
  
Takeru fell... but he also traveled forward. Reaching out his hand to its fullest limit, he just barely caught Angemon's staff. He secured a firmer hold on it and said,  
  
"Now _we_ go."  
_____________________________  
  
"...this final evil. Then you're done. Permanently, in all likelihood."  
  
"Where...?"  
  
"Lucefremon ought to be pretty easy to find. An evil as deep as his poisons the entire area around him. Just flying over it, the very land should look unhealthy. Now go, Hikari. You're the only one left."  
  
"Takeru..."  
  
"Is almost certainly dead, and even if he's not it's very unlikely that he'll get out in time. Hikari, you and Angewomon might not be enough, but you'll have to be."  
  
Gatomon digivolved. Hikari seized her hand and they flew...  
  
They came to a patch of the Digiworld that could only be described as... sickly. All matted brown grass and spider-branched leafless trees and scorched earth.  
  
..._Lucefremon ought to be pretty easy to find. An evil as deep as his poisons the entire area around him. Just flying over it, the very land should look unhealthy. Now go, Hikari. You're the only one left._..  
  
They swooped down and began battle, but it was a losing one from the start. Lucefremon was one of those Digimon past Mega, and a demon Digimon besides... and Angewomon, though a powerful angel digimon, was a mere Ultimate.  
_____________________________  
  
Angemon and Takeru flew frantically over the Digiworld until they came to that battle of titans. They too swooped down, to help.  
  
"Hikari!"  
  
"Takeru!"  
  
The pair's happy reunion was cut short by the necessities of battle.  
  
"Angemon, digivolve to Magnaangemon!" As the angel's voice echoed over the plain, feathers swirled around him, eventually coalescing into two new wings. Armor, a holy purple, encased his body, and his staff turned to a sword of pure light.  
  
He joined the fray by swinging that sword in a great circle.  
  
"Gate of Destiny!"  
  
A golden gate appeared midair, its edges defined by the sweep of the sword. Around those edges symbols gleamed, in that strange language known as Ancient Digicode.  
  
"Heaven's Charm!" Angewomon yelled, and a great cross of pink light sprang from her hands. It hit Lucefremon, and although he was mostly unharmed it drove him back a little. Enough that he was pulled back further, and still further, by the great wind that sucked evil into the vast vacuum of the Gate. Its duty done, the Gate closed and dissolved into golden bits of data.  
  
Hikari and Takeru stared at each other.  
  
"We've won..." breathed Hikari in awe. "I thought we never would... especially after you disappeared. But you came."  
  
"Yes, Hikari. You called me, and I came."  
  
They stepped slowly towards each other, and tenatively embraced. They were about to kiss, when a cough sprang behind them.  
  
"If I may interrupt?" said a gleaming ball of light to them mentally. "While Lucefremon is gone, there is still one more task for you to do, to ensure the Digiworld's future."  
  


finally,  
**TO BE CONCLUDED...  
  
**

AN: I'm planning a freetalk/appendix/assorted-AN section for after the epilogue, and there I'll attempt to answer the questions that doesn't and talk about this fic in general. If you have any questions about this fic, ask now to have them answered there.


	7. Epilogue: Memory's Sleep

epilogue

AN: Wahoo! The first seires I've ever actually *finished,* instead of just leaving to rot. (Although I *will* finish "Angel of Day, Angel of Night." Promise.) Once again, many thanks to all reveiwers. I dedicate this to you.  
  


Memories Epilogue: Memory's Sleep  


  
TK and Kari woke with the same simultaneity that they had fainted. It was late at night, so late it was almost morning, and the nurse had long since left. Partly from tiredness, and partly from sheer puzzlement.  
  
"So I guess we fixed whatever it was that was wrong, "TK remarked.  
  
"'When?' I wonder. It didn't seem terribly different from my dream..."  
  
_Takeru and Hikari quietly excused themselves from the party, leaving Masaharu and Natsuko as the only celebrants. The Lightkeepers had told them that there was one task still left uncompleted, and that the task once again fell to them. Although a bit resentful that it was _always_ them called upon to save the day and worlds, they'd agreed. And now it was time to save both worlds. Again._  
  
"The smallest weight can tip the balance, Kari."  
  
"I guess. But all I did was make a wish..."  
  
_They leaving took out their digivices, and then took off their crests... one pink, one yellow. They placed them on the digivices,and the crests flashed with light. The mirror screens of their digivices reflected this light temporarily, but soon began to glow with a light of their own. The light spread to Takeru and Hikari, and for a brief moment—Gennai would have been technical and termed it a nanosecond—they illuminated the entire park's twilight. Then all three—light, Takeru and Hikari—vanished._  
  
"A wish that stretched across space to give me hope. Anything that gives hope is no small thing."  
  
"Point made." Kari laughed sleepily. "Maybe you should join debate club."  
  
_They arrived in a small cave, recognizable as part of the Digiworld. Before them floated countless balls of light... more Lightkeepers than any had ever seen at once. Amidst them stood Gennai.  
  
"The Lightkeepers have determined that it's integral to my training as the Digiworld's Guardian that I learn to deliver nice mysterious messages to Digidestined. So I've been told to tell you this."_  
  
"I might not be the best-informed person about this though, Kari."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"I only had the one dream, after all."  
  
_"Do you remember how you had brief moments of not-quite-control over yourselves?" They nodded. "Those weren't quite you. Someday, both of you will be reincarnated in the bodies of new Digidestined. Those two, TK and Kari, lived within you briefly."  
  
"You called us all this way merely to tell us that?" Takeru and Hikari chorused incredulously.  
  
"No. They were what tipped the balance against Lucefremon... it's vital that they do come. So now you have to live in them, as they lived in you, and somehow... with a means less direct than those they used, for you won't be able to influence them consciously... make them come back.  
  
"Hold your crests up. It'll take you to their time... to them. To where, and when, they must never forget anything of what happened."  
  
_"Maybe that's why you did so well. With no idea of what had happened, you were free to think of new things." Kari yawned. "G'night, TK." She fell asleep.  
  
TK looked fondly at the girl who'd wished him hope. "Good night, Kari."  
  
_The two looked back at the others, who were still celebrating. Almost as if they had already forgotten.  
  
"But we never will, right?" the boy spoke suddenly.  
  
"We never will." echoed the girl more firmly, understanding his unvoiced meaning.  
  
_And Kari slept peacefully, untroubled by dreams.  
  


fini! fini!  
**THE END  
**

  
AN: Like it? This is last call for questions... but I hope I just answered them all. ^^ Comments on what you particularly liked are always appreciated, as are comments on what you particularly disliked so I can improve it in later stories.


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